Saturday, February 21, 2009

Very sad today....as we pulled out of the driveway to go to breakfast, the snow had melted on the side of the driveway and there was Pretty Girl...the big pretty Maine Coone who I brought home last year from the feral colony I feed...She had been missing for some days now and we assumed she took off because other cats kept chasing her around...or that maybe a mt. lion or dog got to her...This is only the second time I've seen one of my cats body's after they die..last time was Emo in 2001....Not sure what happened to her...ate something bad? Or maybe she was sick already? P. hasn't moved her body yet but will check her out and see if he can tell....No wounds are showing and I think lions drag the animals they catch into the bushes and away...Maybe she had worms or feline leukemia or something...I just don't know and may not ever know and my heart hurts today...It's very hard on me when this happens, even as I know it's just the way it is....
Update after burying Pretty Girl: From the looks of her hind quarter and the amount of feces on her, I would imagine she had something very wrong inside of intestines and since she wanted to live outdoors, we would ever know that. She never used the litter box, always went outside. I'm so sad that I was not able to see there was something wrong with her before she died. I hope it was a fast death...It makes me cry too hard to think of her suffering alone in the snow...She is buried now on the side of the hill next to the house...

Sucks. What - is death supposed to be God's idea of a joke? Sick fuck, then. We get love, but then we also get death.When I was growing up in Connecticut, I lost two animals to surprise death or serious malady. My parents found there beloved dog Paquita lying on her side, stiff and dead one day. Later, my cat Christopher Smart started having seizures, and he had to be on phenobarbital til the end of his days. Kinda wrecked his mealtime for him and us.This was after some families moved into the neighborhood and started getting into chemlawn and pesticides. I wonder if there's a correlation.Our hearts reach out to you, Alicexxoo- T&A

I would bet the pesticides had something to do with the demise of Christopher Smart. Luckily we have no lawns here..but Emo died from eating Oleander..A tiny piece of the leaf can kill a horse.

Pretty Girl will be missed..I admired her for being so independent and living outdoors by choice....And for being the first feral to let me pet her in the colony I feed downtown..."downtown".. :)

When one of my cats dies or vanishes, I remember how many more times I will have to endure this and maybe get a wee bit stronger. Plus I adhere to that idea that like all beings they choose when to live and when to die..I hope...I hope...I hope...